It can be easily argued that the radical nature and challenge of Heidegger's thinking is grounded in his early embrace of the phenomenological method as providing an access to concrete lived experience (or 'factical life', as he calls it) beyond the imposition of theoretical constructs such as 'subject' and 'object', 'mind' and 'body'. Yet shortly after the publication of his ground-breaking work Being and Time, Heidegger appears to abandon phenomenology as the method of philosophy. Why? Heidegger is conspicuously quiet on this issue. Here William McNeill examines the question of the fate of phenomenology in Heidegger's thinking, and its transformation into a 'thinking of being' that regards its task as that of 'letting be'. The relation between phenomenology and 'letting be', McNeill argues, is by no means a straightforward one. It poses the question of whether, and to what extent, Heidegger's thought of his middle and late periods still needs phenomenology in order to accomplish its task-and if so, what kind of phenomenology. What becomes of phenomenology in the course of Heidegger's thinking?
William McNeill is professor of philosophy at DePaul University. He is the author of The Glance of the Eye: Heidegger, Aristotle, and the Ends of Theory and The Time of Life: Heidegger and Ethos and has translated several of Heidegger's works into English.
Introduction / 1. From Phenomenology to Letting Be / 2. A Question of Method? The Crisis of Phenomenology and 'The Origin of the Work of Art' / 3. The Phenomenology of Being and the Matter of Concealment / 4. Phenomenophasis: The Last Word of Phenomenology? / Conclusion / Bibliography / Index
What is for Heidegger the matter of thinking itself? In this well-researched and tightly argued text, McNeill answers this question while offering a fresh and convincing interpretation of the place of phenomenology in Heidegger's thinking. With fascinating new readings of Being and Time, "The Origin of the Work of Art," and the later thought, The Fate of Phenomenology offers much for seasoned Heidegger scholars to consider. It also serves as an introduction to the trajectory of Heidegger's philosophy, early to late, that will be of great value to younger scholars and to those with a general interest in Heidegger and phenomenology.--Scott M. Campbell, Professor of Philosophy, Nazareth College, USA More than anyone working in Heidegger studies today, Will McNeill exhibits his grasped of the entirety of Heidegger's writings. The Fate of Phenomenology traces Heidegger's complex relation to phenomenology from his very earliest to his very last writings. McNeill is one of Heidegger's best interpreters, but what also shines in this book is McNeill's own originality. This will be an original source in Heidegger studies for a long time to come.--Jeffrey Powell, Professor of Philosophy, Marshall University The Fate of Phenomenology provides a fresh perspective on Heidegger's radical transformation of phenomenology beyond his apparent abandonment of it in 1928. McNeill provides a complex yet precise account of all the twists and turns of Heidegger's thought from his early Freiburg lectures to his 1973 Zahringen seminar to situate all the critiques, reformulations, and ambivalences into a broader scope of what phenomenology can be.--Rebecca A. Longtin, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, SUNY New Paltz
